Editors

New Religions Part Two | Raelism

I am sure that back in the early days of Christianity people thought it a crazy cult and that only after decades, centuries, did it become the upstanding religion we know today. So who is to say that Raelism isn’t tomorrows Christianity. Founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon, (now known as Rael), it is a movement teaching that life on Earth was created by extraterrestrials called Elohim. Raelians claim that these extraterrestrials appeared in human form and were mistaken for angels, messengers or prophets including Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad etc. which means that the Elohim were the genesis of these religions.

Vorilhon claims that on December 13, 1973 he found a spacecraft with an extraterrestrial named Yahweh inside who explained the Garden of Eden as a large laboratory, Noah’sArk a spaceship and the great flood a byproduct of a nuclear missile explosion.

According to the Raelians the Elohim want to pacify and inform the world so they can come down and be friends. In what may seem as a stark contrast the Raelian religion has used the swastika as their emblem, claiming it is a symbol of peace but neither the Israeli’s nor Lebanese bought their story so they started replacing the swastika with a variant star/swirl symbol.

Sexuality is an important part of the Raelian doctrine. They are accepting of all consensual sexual practices and are vehemently opposed to pedophilia. Their initiation ceremony, or baptism, includes the “transmission of the cellular plan,” meaning the organic cells of the body (cellular) and the genetic makeup of the individual (plan). It’s not a huge leap to figure out what this means. Kids, don’t ask your parents.

Believing that genetically modifying organisms including cloning is the ticket to eternal life, Rael founded what is now called Clonaid and claimed to have conceived a human baby through cloning technology.

Here are a few of the Raelian beliefs in no particular order:

They do not believe in the soul, god or supernatural events.

They promote Sensual Meditation including body awareness and eroticism and mutual excitement.

They are an ally of Monsanto Company and genetically modified organisms

They are anti-war.

They support the topless rights of women

They believe that a judgment is coming, that the Elohim are recording our genetic information by a remote computer in order to judge us in our final hour.

They support sexual education for children

They claim that the universe has no center or creator, that it is an atom in a much larger level of matter. That the atom within an atom extends to infinity.

They believe in intelligent design – by aliens

They do not believe in reincarnation and instead think people can be brought back from the dead with technology.

So in conclusion, it appears Raelism was born out of technology and a strong belief in extraterrestrials, while also embracing, or explaining, the origins of other religions. Yahweh, one of the biblical names for God, is incorporated into their doctrine along with sexual freedom and the bio engineering of life. Sounds like they covered all the bases, so if you want to play it safe with the cosmos, it’s probably a good idea to become a Raelian.

Brad M Bucklin

Brad M. Bucklin received a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Theatre from Windham College where he studied with John Irving. After moving to Los Angeles at 25, he worked as an actor for a number of years on such shows as “One Day At A Time,” “Days of Our Lives” “Picket Fences” and in films that included “World War III,” “Wavelength” “No Place to Hide” and more. Brad was a Partner at the Empty Stage Theatre, where he co-wrote and produced the play “Three,” featuring Felicia Day and turned into the hilarious screenplay “Sex and the Modern Marriage.” His plays “Remember Me,”"Abide," and more have all been produced in Los Angeles area. He directed the original one act “Twins” (featuring Kristin Wigg) for the Award Winning Can Festival. His play “Mrs. Christmas” was recently made into an Award Winning short film directed by Kristian Gabriel. He was Production Manager on the documentary “Supporting Actors,” and wrote, Produced and Directed the short film “Remember Marci.” Currently he is working on a Documentary about Improv that includes many performers such as Lisa Kudrow and Cynthia Stevenson. Brad has partnered with Kristian Gabriel to create Professional Filmmaking Alliance, and www.crypticplanet.com. www.bradbucklin.com